With less than two months to go before Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man’ officially hits theaters, several teasers have already been let slip by the film’s cast and crew, such as a surprise villain and possibly an appearance from Earth’s Mightiest, such as Anthony’s Mackie Falcon as well as other Avengers.
Although director Peyton Reed sought to keep things quiet, Empire Magazine’s new ‘Ant-Man’ cover issue revealed several interesting details.
Reed was prompted by the magazine on the concept of Falcon and other Avengers appearing in the new Marvel installment.
"That's classified information. That's buried. It's possible," the director said.
After hiring Edgar Wright to helm ‘Ant-Man’ in 2006, it took Marvel eight years to begin production on the movie. If such project was developed at an earlier time, it could have become one of Marvel’s first feature movies as a standalone studio.
Although Ant-Man was one of the first superheroes created by Marvel, he may also be one of the less popular characters among the general public.
The upcoming installment is expected to bring on a significant change as it will put forward two of the characters who had been Ant-Man in the comic books. These include Scott Lang and his predecessor, Hank Pym.
In the comics, Scott was portrayed as a thief who took Ant-Man’s suit in order to save his own daughter’s life. Instead of allowing Scott to tell the authorities about his own misbehavior, Hank Pym had let him become the new Ant-Man.
For the film version, Scott (Paul Rudd) will remain as a thief who steals the superhero suit from Pym; however, alterations to their origin story have been incorporated into the storyline.
One of the most well-known capabilities of Ant-Man’s suit is to allow Scott to get smaller and communicate with ants while giving him a remarkable amount of strength.
Scott’s ex-partner and daughter will also make an appearance in the ‘Ant-Man’ movie. Although there will not be a sequel before 2020, Rudd has already been in talks to reprise his role as the shrinking superhero in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ in 2016.
Pym, the original Ant-Man, will be portrayed by Michael Douglas; the character is known to be a brave and bold scientist who also took on the identities of Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket and The Wasp.
However, the film will be showing Pym as a much older male who guides Scott in using the suit to help them in their mission of reclaiming Pym’s technology from the villain.
Speaking of antagonists, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) is the first villain who was encountered by Scott, making him one of the younger Ant-Man’s main foes. In the movie, Cross was first mentored by Pym before stealing his company and creating the Yellowjacket suit, known to be more lethal than Pym’s Ant-Man armor.
Portrayed by Evangeline Lilly, the character of Janet Van Dyne is also expected to appear in the upcoming Marvel installment as she was Wasp in the comics as well as Pym’s heroic partner and former wife.
For the rest of the cast, this includes Judy Greer as Scott’s ex-wife, Maggie; Abby Ryder Fortson as their daughter, Cassie; and Bobby Cannavale as Scott’s pal and Maggie’s new husband, Paxton.
In addition, John Slattery will reprise his role as Howard Stark (from Iron Man 2) with Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, although their appearances in the movie is expected to be merely cameos.
'Ant-Man' has been scheduled to hit cinemas on July 17, Friday.
